Writing about Debian is not a simple thing. You know it's the giant that has spawned pretty
much every other distro out there. It's almost like a Roman Empire, almost a taboo.
Furthermore, it's not a desktop distro per se. It's more sort of a template you use to build
your platform. It's also a SOHO server distro, therefore it more fits into the business
category, comparable to CentOS and similar.

True. I can't wait to have my parents install it instead of some evil 'proprietary' product from Microsoft or Apple. If they were into the idea of replacing the firmware on various devices in their machines with open source replacements, guessing what a WEP key is (and why their current WiFi password isn't working), etc., this would be fantastic.

This is exactly why Linux in general is never going to take over anything - the target audience is the 1% already using it. :/ (And I know there are easier-to-install distros, but even then you get your package managers, questions about KDE & Gnome, and god knows what else... just never going to be a real replacement desktop OS.)

True. I can't wait to have my parents install it instead of some evil 'proprietary' product from Microsoft or Apple. If they were into the idea of replacing the firmware on various devices in their machines with open source replacements, guessing what a WEP key is (and why their current WiFi password isn't working), etc., this would be fantastic.

This is exactly why Linux in general is never going to take over anything - the target audience is the 1% already using it. :/ (And I know there are easier-to-install distros, but even then you get your package managers, questions about KDE & Gnome, and god knows what else... just never going to be a real replacement desktop OS.)

And may I ask just how many times your parents have installed ANY OS from scratch? At most, people usually just throw in their system restore disks they get from their manufacturer (or press a key on start up to begin restore). Maybe your parents do install Windows from scratch, but honestly, even then they have to worry about drivers, wireless network encryption, etc... Honestly, for most people comfortable enough to install any OS completely from scratch, setting up Linux is usually no more difficult. For people who aren't comfortable setting up an OS from scratch, someone else does it for them. My parents, who would never in a million years install an OS by themselves on their computer, have been running Ubuntu for about six years now. I got tired of fixing problems in Windows for them. And you know what? They're quite happy with Ubuntu and I can go for months on end without a single call saying "hey, this needs to get fixed". The only time they have had issues with their computer was when hardware was failing on it. No viruses, no programs that just magically stopped working, printers with drivers that just wouldn't install, etc. Debian is obviously not the right fit for them, but don't say for a second that Linux as a whole is not ready for mainstream use.

This is exactly why Linux in general is never going to take over anything - the target audience is the 1% already using it. :/ (And I know there are easier-to-install distros, but even then you get your package managers, questions about KDE & Gnome, and god knows what else... just never going to be a real replacement desktop OS.)

I know I shouldn't fall for this one but those easier-to-install distros make decisions like which window manager/package manager to use for you - it's one of the reasons they are easier to install. And do you really expect to be taken seriously if you make a statement dismissing all types of something with an untested criticism aimed at just one? Isn't that like me dismissing Windows because the cut-down version supplied with an OEM PC was up to my expextations?